His book provides insightful analyses of the everyday rituals for karaoke performers and the cultural significance of karaoke, while serving as a model for blending cultural studies, performance studies, and media criticism. . . . Drew weaves theory with observations, participant observation, and interviews in a way that allows the reader not only to more fully understand the business of organizing and emceeing karaoke shows, but also to feel the nervousness and awkwardness of performing and to gain some insight into the dreams that are held by some performers.

Text and Performance Quarterly

Karaoke Nights is a beautifully written and wise book that combines ethnography, essay, and autobiography in equal measure. Rob Drew discovers in karaoke a sociological parable about what it means to perform our identities for strangers, in a world drunk with celebrity, using materials manufactured by others. Drew's narrative effortlessly blends painstaking observation and personal experience with a wide and sophisticated reading of cultural and social theory. Karaoke Nights rehearses once again the song that all fine ethnography sings-about how we struggle to make ourselves recognizably human in the presence of others. It is an endearing and passionate work.

John Pauly, (Saint Louis University)

Rob Drew's book analyzes a rich material in an exceptionally thorough and inspiring manner. I have rarely encountered an equally strong sense of presence in the experience of music media use. . . . Drew combines a phenomenological analysis of [karaoke's] intensified feelings and social relations with a clear sense of the structural and material frames within which these experiences are set. In all, this book is almost as irresistibly likable as a good karaoke night.

Johan Fornas, Linkoping University and National Institute of Working Life, Sweden

There aren't that many academic page-turners, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to put this book down. What makes the book come alive are the descriptions of countless amateur performances, each of which is made to seem at once unique and representative of larger cultural concerns. In terms of its substance, originality, and vividness, it ranks with the best ethnographic studies of popular culture to date.

Henry Jenkins, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

This book is poignant, funny, and . . . always surprising. Drew stitches his theoretical analysis into the story with a lightness of touch that suggests great confidence, just as his first-person, ethnographic-present account of the karaoke experience reveals a brave and honest participant. This is a remarkably honest book, full of insights that transcend karaoke itself. It can teach us a good deal about the nature of popular music and pop cultural ethnography.

Andrew Goodwin, University of San Francisco

The power of Drew's ethnography lies in the way he is able to describe the experience of karaoke so that it makes plausible sense to the reader who begins with no idea what karaoke is all about and would never, ever think of doing it himself or herself. . . . Drew's super descriptions of romantic behavior, flirting, team performances, and other types of karaoke interaction make his book difficult to put down before finishing.

Journal Of Contemporary Ethnography